LAS VEGAS—The most remarkable thing
about the annual NAB Show, April 8-11 in
Las Vegas, is the “Petri dish” environment
that comes from squeezing a year’s worth of
thrills, disappointments and predictions into
one six-day stretch. It offers a microscopic
look at what’s been brewing—what worked
and what clearly did not—over the last 12
months.

As the industry evolves and trends change,
the show has as well. No longer a convention
targeted just to the broadcast professional,
the 2013 gathering has been retooled to address
the very different world that is now the
prevue of the professional media individual.

Gordon Smith (L), NAB president and CEO, will discuss the future of media with Lowell C. McAdam, chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications during Tuesday’s General Session.

Over the last few years, the show has been
revamped to address the issues of a network
engineer as surely as it welcomes the social
media marketer. That’s a marked difference
from the NAB you’d have walked in on a decade
ago, when the digital transition was still
underway and it was doubly clear who were
the allies and who were the competitors.

Content has pushed the show to usher in
a new breed of companies as well as create
new areas of focus—areas like the Connected
Media World and the Enterprise Computing
Pit (see “NAB Show Expands Tech
Focus,”).

This year, 4K technology will sit in the
spotlight. Like its HD forefather, 4K continues
to make inroads because of the format’s
promise of higher-resolution images and
crystal clarity. At the show, camera manufacturers
and storage developers are expected
to offer 4K-ready solutions this year that
don’t abandon existing technology, like a
1080p 4K server from Abekas that can import
a 4K file and create 1080p files for playback
on 3G HD/SDI outputs. Other companies
plan to demonstrate how their existing
behind-the-scenes solutions are themselves
already suitable for 4K production, from
routing to monitoring technologies.

Though consumer demand for 4K is limited,
the technology has vocal supporters.
Earlier this year, Japan announced its intention
to transmit the world’s first 4K television
broadcast in July 2014 during its coverage
of the World Cup in Brazil.

“The goal is always to try and both reflect
and tease the latest trends in every aspect
of what happens at the show, from exhibit
floor to conference sessions to organic
dialogue,” said Chris Brown, executive vice
president of conventions for NAB.

As much as we have all found standard
HD to be pretty amazing, 4K is a true nextlevel
viewing experience,” Brown said. “The
industry as a whole seems ot be gearing rapidly
for a shift to this next generation technology
and it does appear to have moved beyond
rhetoric at this point, although it will
no doubt take several years to move all sides
of the ecosystem through the transition.”

NAB will also tout another first: A live 8K
broadcast at the NHK exhibit as part of the
NAB Futures Park, which looks at technologies
that are a generation or so away from
what’s available today.

Another area of growth: technology that
addresses social media. Like so many technologies
before it, the cocktail of social media
and broadcasting has trodden a sometimes-
rocky path.

SECOND SCREEN STRATEGY
This year, when it comes to social media,
there’s an effort to offer some clarity. A
growing number of companies are working
to make the actual means of sharing the
sometimes-disjointed messages from the
separate worlds of Twitter and Facebook
in a way that’s more broadcast friendly. Sessions
at the show seem to take two views:
on one hand, stripping away the mystery
of just how to integrate social media into a
broadcast. On the other, delving into the psychology
of social media to explain why it’s
become such a powerful communications
tool. Other sessions will look at better ways
to use social media to build loyalty.

“Social media isn’t this Holy Grail, it’s a
tool,” said Alexandra Gebhardt, founder of
the firm Inside Media Networks, who will
speak Sunday, April 7 at Web 3.0: Social Media
& Web Video. The error is to treat social
media as a separate entity, rather than incorporating
it into part of a regular media plan.
Rather, it needs to become an extension of
how human beings interact, she said.

“With any kind of technical shift, you’re
going to have this period of disbelief,” said
Gebhardt. “But it’s important to stay on top
of all that. [The industry] needs to incorporate
the second screen as a strategy. Content
has and always will be king, but now we can
absorb it any way we want.”

In the same vein, the show will again
have a strong focus on second-screen devices
and mobile TV. There remains steady support
for the launch of mobile TV, even as the
service rollout nationwide is still in progress.
Late last year, mobile TV advocacy group
Open Mobile Video Coalition announced
that it was putting its advocacy efforts into
the NAB organization as part of the “next
logical step,” according to Anne Schelle, the
organization’s former executive director. At
this year’s show, NAB sessions will offer an
update on the rollout of mobile TV, with a
review of ongoing technical standards updates.

3D REMAINS STRONG
Another benefit of the annual convention
is that it gives the industry a chance to
re-evaluate its stance on technologies, both
those that are promising and those that are
struggling. Despite an undercurrent of doubt
that has sometimes followed the 3D rollout,
the 3D trend forecast for 2013 stressed that
this young digital technology continues to
capture significant revenue. “The 3D worldwide
infrastructure is steadily building,” said
Jim Chabin, president of the International
3D Society.

In additional to the more than 40 3D
features that are expected to be released
in 2013, the organization anticipates rapid
growth in 3DTV sets with more than 60 million
sets in the U.S. by 2016, he said. “4K and
smart TVs are both technologies that will
further enable a great 3D experience for
consumers,” the forecast said.

“Most large-screen TVs being shipped are
3D ready; ESPN3D is broadcasting the Masters
in April and the 3Net [3D channel] has
the biggest 3D library in the world at this
point, so the content is building and consumer
surveys show that they like what
they see but want more,” Chabin said. “We
have a heck of a platform for shrewd programmers
who want to have a competitive
edge over their rivals.”

The launch of 4K 3DTV
screens will provide even
brighter, 3D viewing experiences,
Chabin said. “4K is dazzling
and makes 3D better, brighter
and more exciting,” he said,
pointing to the planned 3D
broadcast of the 2014 Winter
Games.

Convention organizers believe
so as well, with the convention
targeting 3D technology
with the Technology Summit
On Cinema, April 6–7, which
will look at the history of cinema
technology and the pitfalls
sometimes associated with 3D. In addition
there will be workshops that touch on 3D
issues, from modeling software that makes
3D possible as well as the problems inherent
with 3D conversion.

While broadcasters and media companies
collaborate on developing models for the
next generation of media devices and delivery
pipes, broadcasters are keeping tabs on
the FCC’s efforts to remodel the spectrum
landscape with upcoming auctions. In the
wake of this uncertainty, stations are weighing
their future viability and relevance in an
environment in which the majority of media
is now being distributed over IP.

A majority of broadcasters, though, remain
committed to the medium and it is to
that end that the NAB has made it its mission
to protect signal integrity throughout
the process. Sessions including “Spectrum
Matters,” at the Broadcasting Engineering
Conference on Monday morning, April 8,
and “Incentive Auctions of TV Spectrum—
How and When They Will Impact Your Business,”
Monday afternoon, will delve into the
details surrounding the spectrum repacking
process that result from the auctions.

CONSUMER IN CONTROL
Like puzzle pieces in a box, the industry
continues to watch as the broadcast/cable/
streaming market is shaken up. Although
the shuffling of players and services continues—
a confusing jumble of former competitors
turning into allies, while simultaneously
remaining opponents—the controlling
hand continues to be the consumer, who
continues to want an integrated mix of apps
and content on multiple devices.

The industry is also continuing to mull
the benefits of cloud computing. How can
this relatively inexpensive means of storing
and delivering information be used—reliably—
to enable distribution and playback
on multiple fixed and mobile platforms? Sessions
like “Content Delivery from the Cloud”
(Monday, April 8), will look at the ways cloud
computing can be used to improve the idea
of a TV-everywhere world.

“Our customers are extremely keen to
understand how what this cloud can do for
them,” said Paul Martin, president of Snell
North America, one of many exhibitors who
will be showcasing new cloud computing
solutions at this year’s show. The U.K. company
will demonstrate how its technology
can improve workflow, starting from the
raw materials and running through the final
result playing on a consumer device.
“We’re going to show how you can do that
all through a fully automated cloud-based capability,”
Martin said.

The show will further embrace the
“disruptive” among us with the Disruptive
Media Conference, which will look at
how broadcasters can better partner with
the newcomers of the content distribution
world to ferret out challenges and untapped
opportunities. Late last year YouTube announced
it would launch a branded channel
initiative that would offer a mix of original
content and aggregated clips, attempting to
wrest further control of the viewing markets
from traditional broadcasters. Panels
like “The Future of Online Video” (Thursday,
April 11), will look at how these so-called
threats could really be opportunities to
bond with new distribution partners.

The NAB will again tout its ties with the
media and entertainment scene, tapping entertainment
journalist Nancy O’Dell to host
the NAB Television Luncheon. The show is
also reaching across the aisle by welcoming
the CEO of Verizon Communications, Lowell
C. McAdam, to headline the show’s General
Session. NAB President Gordon Smith, who
will speak alongside News Corp. CEO Chase
Carey, will give the annual State of the Broadcast
Industry address.